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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Not As Good As I Was Hoping...

Eyes Like Stars
    by Lisa Mantchev


Dull Eyes - 2/5


First, a quick summary from Goodreads:
"All her world’s a stage.
Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own. That is, until now.
Enter Stage Right
NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.
COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.
ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.
BERTIE. Our heroine.
Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book — an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family — and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.
Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.
Open Curtain"
I would like to start off by saying that I was disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would. How awesome would it have been to be able to give Eyes Like Stars a starry eyed review?


I picked this book up on the discount table at Chapters, and if it hadn't been there to begin with I can tell you that I wouldn't have picked up this book at all. It's kind of beat up from being there for a while, and it smells funny and is oddly creaky... Which I kind of liked about the book.


But enough about  the appearance, let's get into the book. Before you start the story, there's a cute little cast list at the front of the book that I couldn't help but love. However, once I started reading the story, I often found myself confused by the theatre terms and often felt like I was missing out on many play references.


It wasn't until around page 200 when things became less confusing and I finally got the hang of the book... Or more likely it just became more understandable. I can honestly say that I liked reading the book once I hit the 200 page mark, but the time before that was very choppy and confusing. And the mystery wasn't even that interesting. I could have easily put this book down at anytime and forgotten about it... But I have issues where if I start a book I have to finish it no matter how bad it is. Not saying that this book was horrible... It just okay.


All in all, Eyes Like Stars is not something I would recommend to anybody unless they had a background in theatre.


TBR Count: 44

2 comments:

  1. Kinda funny, because this is the EXACT book my sister reviewed on my blog today! I haven't read it myself, but your review points out a few of the concerns I had with reading it.. and why I probably won't read it personally.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lex!

    Brenna from Esther's Ever After

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    1. That's too funny! I'll have to check out what she thought about the book and I don't blame you for not wanting to read it, lol.

      Thanks for the comment, Brenna! :)

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